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William Robert Hamilton
William Robert Hamilton (1891-1917), who published as William Hamilton, was a South African poet and a World War I soldier. Life Hamilton was born in Dumfries, Scotland. He emigrated to South Africa where a portion of his education was at the South African College, Cape Town. He was killed on the Western Front in Flanders, Belgium in 1917. Poem by William Hamilton The Song of an Exile I have seen the Cliffs of Dover And the White Horse on the Hill; I have walked the lanes, a rover; I have dreamed beside the rill: I have known the fields awaking To the gentle touch of Spring; The joy of morning breaking, And the peace your twilights bring. But I long for a sight of the pines, and the blue shadows under; For the sweet-smelling gums, and the throbbing of African air; For the sun and the sand, and the sound of the surf's ceaseless thunder, The height, and the breadth and the depth, and the nakedness there. I have visited your cities Where the unregenerate dwell; I have trilled the ploughman's ditties To the mill-wheel and the well. I have heard the poised lark singing To the blue of summer skies; The whirr of pheasants winging, And the crash when grouse arise. But I sigh for the heat of the veld, and the cool-flowing river; For the crack of the trek-whip, the shimmer of dust-laden noon: For the day sudden dying; the croak of the frogs, and the shiver Of tropical night, and the stars, and the low-hanging moon. I have listen'd in the gloaming {C To your poets' tales of old; I know, when I am roaming, That I walk on hallowed mould. I have lived and fought among you And I trow your hearts are steel; That the nations who deride you Shall, like dogs, be brought to heel. But I pine for the roar of the lion on the edge of the clearing; For the rustle of grass snake; the birds' flashing wing on the heath; For the sun-shrivelled peaks of the mountains to blue heaven rearing; The limitless outlook, the space, and the freedom beneath. William Hamilton, Modern Poems (Oxford: B.H. Blackwell, 1917): 50-51. 011648.eee.17 British Library Recognition He is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial, at the Tyne Cot British Cemetery and Memorial, at Ieper (Ypres)in Flanders, Belgium. The reference to him reads: (Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission) Publications Play * William Hamilton. Moths and Fairies: A play. 1912. Anthologized * William Hamilton. Modern Poems. Oxford, UK: B.H. Blackwell / New York: Longmans, Green / Cape Town : T.M. Miller, 1917. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy University of Toronto.Hamilton, William, Representative Poetry Online, University of Toronto. Web, Sep. 10, 2014. See also * List of South African poets References External links ;Poems * Selected Poetry of William Hamilton (1891-1917) at Representative Poetry Online. ;About Category:British Army personnel of World War I Category:Coldstream Guards officers Category:Scottish poets Category:British military personnel killed in World War I Category:People from Dumfries Category:British World War I poets Category:20th-century poets Category:African poets writing in English Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:South African poets Category:1891 births Category:1917 deaths